A KEY figure in the Northern Ireland peace process is today named by former Special Branch agent Martin McGartland as the IRA punishment chief who ordered his execution.

Padraig Wilson, who is set to lead the IRA team negotiating disarmament, headed the terrorist organisation's intelligence and discipline operations in Belfast in the mid-1980s.

McGartland, who infiltrated the IRA on the Special Branch's behalf, reveals in the Sunday Mirror today how he went to meet Wilson at Sinn Fein headquarters in 1991 - but was faced, instead, with a punishment squad

who took him away for interrogation and execution. He escaped by jumping from a third-floor window.Related Results

Wilson, 42, still a prisoner at the Maze but is expected to be released within weeks, was elected to handle the decommissioning talks at an IRA Army Council meeting two weeks ago in the Irish Republic.

Wilson is said to have met Canadian General John de Chastelain, head of the International Decommissioning Commission, in Dundalk yesterday, to start talks on handing over weapons.

Sinn Fein officials refused to confirm Wilson's role. One said such a role would be "an enormous, and perhaps, unfair burden on a prisoner". But security sources said they were expecting the IRA to put up a "smokescreen".

Two priests from Clonard monastery in West Belfast, who set up a secret communications channel between the IRA and the Irish government in the early 1990s, could become involved in the talks.

Republicans describe Wilson as one of the most respected IRA leaders and a moderate voice among hardliners.

He was jailed for 24 years in 1991 after being caught with a car bomb in Belfast City centre.

In the mid-1980s, Wilson joined the IRA Belfast brigade staff. His closest ally was David Adams, the cousin of Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams.

As head of its so-called Civil Administration Team, or punishment squad, Wilson had the power over life and death, sanctioning vicious attacks on petty criminals and taking charge of the hunt for Special Branch informers. One he uncovered was Martin McGartland.

In 1991, suspicion fell on McGartland after operations he was involved in were either foiled by the security forces or had to be abandoned because of defective weapons.

McGartland, then aged 21, had spent the previous two years working with Davy Adams, and also in the pay of Special Branch.

One August morning he was called to a meeting with Wilson.

After clearance from his handlers, McGartland went to Connolly House on Andersonstown Road, Sinn Fein's Northern Ireland HQ.

But Wilson was not present and McGartland was taken to a flat in the Twinbrook estate where he later jumped 40ft from a third floor window to cheat death at the hands of an IRA execution team.

Within months, Wilson was caught with an undercar booby trap bomb and sent to the Maze.

He gave the first insight into IRA thinking on disarmament a year ago in a letter to a Belfast newspaper. It said he believed that "voluntary decommissioning" could happen once political institutions were in place.

Now the world holds its breath to see if decommissioning will go through before the May 2000 deadline.

The arrest of a Belfast man in connection with the attempted murder of IRA informer Martin McGartland sparked a furious protest last night.

The 32-year-old man was arrested earlier yesterday along with a 33-year-old man from Glasgow after a joint operation by the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Northumbria Police and Strathclyde Police.

The two are being questioned at an undisclosed police station in the Northumbria area.

Mr McGartland, aged 29, suffered six gunshot wounds in an attack at his home in Duchess Street in the Tyneside seaside resort of Whitley Bay in June.

Northumbria Police launched a massive manhunt and publicity appeal to find the gunmen, but said they were keeping an open mind on the motive while not discounting possible terrorist involvement.

At the time, Sinn Fein denied any IRA involvement in the attack. Last night, Sinn Fein Assembly member for north Belfast, Gerry Kelly, called for the Irishman's immediate release.

In a statement he said: "This morning's raid is an appalling act which saw one man arrested and his home and business badly damaged.

"Once again the RUC are involved in activities which run counter to the peace process and can only cause difficulties for those attempting to break the present political impasse.

"I am calling for the man's immediate release and an explanation from the NIO Security Minister Adam Ingram. We are treating this incident with the utmost seriousness."

The Royal Ulster Constabulary said it was a matter for Northumbria Police, which is leading the inquiry into Mr McGartland's shooting, to comment.

A Northumbria Police spokeswoman said: "The men were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to murder Mr McGartland under new cross border powers conferred by the Criminal Justice and Criminal Order Act 1994.

Mr McGartland infiltrated the republican movement on behalf of the RUC Special Branch during the 1980s and later published Fifty Dead Men Walking, recounting his experiences.

Northern Ireland peace broker George Mitchell last night went into the latest round of his marathon review of Ulster's Good Friday agreement by meeting Irish premier Bertie Ahern in Dublin.

The former United States senator briefed Mr Ahern on his nine weeks of talks so far with Northern Ireland's political party bosses ahead of making similar reports to Mr Tony Blair and President Clinton.

The senator meets the Prime Minister in London today and Mr Clinton in Washington later this week.